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MIND, MATTER 



AND 



MOTION 



WITH DIRECTIONS 



FOR GOOD HEALTH IN OLD AGE 



BY 



ADAM MILLER, RL D., Ph. D., 

it ' 



AUTHOR OF 



^Life in Other Worlds/' 

"Plain Talk to the Sick" 

and "Mental Gymnastics." 



CW4C-&\* 



CHICAGO, 
1806. 



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COPYRIGHT 18S6 

BY 
DR. ADAM MILLER. 



THE BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

The Sun an Electric Light 8 

How the Earth is Warmed by the Sun's 

Rays 14 

The Conditions of Matter and the Origin 

of Human Life and Mind 21 

How Truth May be Found 26 

Combined Forces of Nature 31 

Care for the House We Live in 45 

Strength Obtained by Labor 50 

The Limitations to Human Knowledge. 56 

How to Remain Vigorous in Old Age . . 67 

Natural and Spiritual Laws 70 

How the Memory May be Improved 73 

Appendix 87 



PREFACE. 

When sixty years of my life had 
passed away I felt that the infirmities 
of old age were gradually approach- 
ing. 

An inclination to stoop and bend 
down, with a pressure on my shoul- 
ders, were indications that a great 
change was coming. I then resolved 
to throw ofif, if possible, this relentless 
oppressor of our mental and physi- 
cal powers. I commenced some new 
scientific studies, and resorted to new 
physical exercises. Here I had to 
exercise my MIND and to deal with 
MATTER and keep in MOTION, and 
this suggested the title for my book: 
MIND, MATTER AND MOTION. 

I do not contemplate mind in its 
metaphysical relation to all existing 
things, but view it as the intellectual or 
intelligent power in man, by which he 
arrives at conclusions which control his 
actions. I do not present matter in 
its strictly scientific relation to natural 
laws ; but view it as it exists in its vari- 
5 



MIND, MATTER 



THE SUN AN ELECTRIC LIGHT. 

In my first study of this subject Y 
was fully satisfied that the light of the 
sun was caused by electrical action, 
but by a more careful examination of 
the statements of the different authors 
who have written on this subject, and 
of the facts connected with solar ac- 
tion, I am prepared to advance one 
step farther and assert that the sun 
is, in itself, an immense electric light. 
It is not merely to be viewed as a light- 
house on the distant shores of a rock- 
bound coast, shedding its borrowed 
light to guide the mariner in his course, 
but as a central power house of un- 
told energy, to hold and guide revolv- 
ing worlds in their motion around this 
common center, and that this will 
finally be a recognized fact in science. 

I am the more confident in this from 
the fact that, up to this time, no theory 
has been offered on which astronomers 
could generally agree. 

In reference to this, Dr. Newcomb, 
in his "Popular Astronomy" (257), 
says: "It is remarkable that modern 



AND MOTION. 



science has shown us more mysteries 
in the sun than it has explained, so 
that we find ourselves farther than be- 
fore from a satisfactory explanation of 
solar phenomena." 

On page 287 Dr. Newcomb says: 
"No theory of the solar constitution 
which is free from some objections has 
yet appeared." 

Professor Langly, the astronomer, 
says: "The most important statement 
with reference to the sun, perhaps, 
which we can make with certainty, is 
even a negative one. It is that we 
have no other than empirical grounds 
in the present state of knowledge for 
believing in the uniformity of solar 
radiation in prehistoric periods or in 
the future." 

From such statements from two of 
the most popular astronomers of our 
country it must be admitted that there 
is a demand for something more cer- 
tain on this subject. 

A number of different theories have 
been offered, and in their turn rejected 
as untenable. The theory now gen- 
erally received by astronomers is that 
the solar orb is now in a process of 
shrinking, and in this way it is sup- 



10 MIND, MATTER 

posed that the light and heat of the 
sun are produced, but this is not re- 
garded as a fact in science and is re- 
ceived only from a want of something 
more in harmony with scientific facts. 
Now, since electricity has come to 
the front as a great working force in 
nature, we may look at this as the most 
probable cause of solar energy and ac- 
tivity. This giant power is governed 
by certain laws, which we can study, 
and from which we can make certain 
calculations, and thus arrive at scien- 
tific conclusions. The matter thrown 
out from the sun, as revealed by the 
telescope, is the result of magnetic re- 
pulsion. Now, we appeal to facts re- 
vealed through the telescope, and here 
we learn that an immense amount of 
matter is constantly thrown out from 
the sun, and this is regularly returned 
by the sun's attraction. This cannot 
be accounted for by the shrinking of 
the sun, but it can be accounted for 
most clearly by the different electrical 
conditions of these particles of matter. 
By the immense magnetism of the sun, 
they become positive, and, conse- 
quently, are repelled, as a positive re- 
pels a positive. When they are pushed 



AND MOTION. 11 

out from 200,000 to 300,000 miles their 
positive electric condition is changed 
to a negative condition, and then they 
are attracted by the sun, and return 
with an immense force, and by this re- 
peated contact with the surface of the 
sun, develop immense currents of elec- 
tricity. 

Here there is no waste of energies, 
for the boundless store of electricity 
cannot be wasted. Here we will find 
the master key that will unlock the 
mysteries that have surrounded this 
subject in the past. 

A distinguished astronomer says: 
'The true explanation is reserved for 
the science which shall reveal the na- 
ture of the connection which unites 
heat to electricity, to magnetism and 
to the cause of gravity." This we have 
in the theory here presented, and the 
truth that forces itself upon us is that 
the sun itself is an electric light on an 
enormous scale, and this is kept up 
through all the ages by magnetic re- 
pulsion and attraction of cosmical mat- 
ter, according to electric conditions. 

This bombardment constantly go- 
ing on on the surface of the sun is a 
scientific fact, demonstrated by obser- 



12 MIND, MATTER 

vations through the telescope and not 
a theory guessed at to be set aside by 
another guessing in another direction. 

New theories should not be rejected 
on the ground that we find nothing in 
the books in harmony with them. If 
they will stand the test of logic without 
sophistry and of fairly conducted ex- 
periments without jugglery or decep- 
tion, we should accept them, even if 
we are compelled to abandon old 
theories and number them with erro- 
neous theories of our ancestors. 

The bright, shining surface of the 
sun which we see with the naked eye 
is the photosphere which appears per- 
fectly smooth and uniform, but the 
telescope reveals a constant state of 
disturbance on the surface of the sun, 
and these down rushing of and up- 
heavals of electric storms, exceeding 
by a thousand fold all the cyclones and 
tornadoes ever witnessed on this earth, 
can only be accounted for on the the- 
ory of electrical action. 

The spots seen on the surface of the 
sun through the telescope can be noth- 
ing less than immense chasms through 
the photosphere, caused by these 
storms. 



AND MOTION. 13 

We need only advance along this 
line, step by step, and with facts that 
cannot be denied, and we will finally 
arrive at conclusions to which the 
most advanced science of our times 
can offer no objections. 

Dr. Newcomb says: "The great 
question in the present state of science 
is how the supply of heat is maintained 
against such an immense loss by radia- 
tion." 

Well, we may now proclaim that we 
have found the ever-flowing fountain, 
streaming out from every star and 
every world throughout the universal 
empire — enough to supply all demands 
for millions on millions of years. 

All other theories point to a waste 
of energies that foretell the final doom 
of nature; but electricity can never fail. 
It has in it the elements of perpetual 
motion. It manifests a power that is 
sui generis. It works for humanity in 
thousands of forms, from the sewing 
machine up to the locomotive drawing 
a train of passengers. 

It carries a message of friendly 
greeting to the different nations of the 
earth and passes around the world in 
a few minutes. 



14 MIND, MATTER 

It submits to the restraints of the 
human mind and will, yet outside of 
these restraints its power is boundless 
and yet under the control of a higher 
law, working out the designs of an in- 
finite mind and will. 

The late Professor Tyndall says: 
"When the history of the dynamical 
theory of heat is written, the man who, 
in opposition to the scientific belief of 
his times, could experiment, and rea- 
son upon experiment, cannot be 
lightly passed over." If I am mis- 
taken it is proper for some of the wise 
men of our time to correct the error. 
If I am correct they should give en- 
couraging testimony to the truth of 
this theory. 



HOW THE EARTH IS WARMED 
BY THE SUN'S RAYS. 

The fact has been strangely over- 
looked that sunshine possesses proper- 
ties different from the light produced 
by the ordinary combustion of terres- 
trial material substances. By a due 
consideration of this the mistakes al- 
ready referred to could have been 
avoided. Then, as has already been 



AND MOTION. 15 

stated, heat is not an independent ex- 
isting thing. Its existence depends 
on mechanical or chemical action, and 
it cannot pass through cold space and 
retain its existence without a repro- 
ducing cause. The fuel stored in our 
vaults or places of deposits, to warm 
our dwelling places or run our ma- 
chinery, contains the elements from 
which heat is produced, but this can 
only be accomplished when the fuel is 
subjected to the chemical action called 
combustion. Then the heat is pro- 
duced. 

We cannot say that the heat is la- 
tent in the fuel, neither can we say 
that light is latent in the candle before 
it is lighted. We might as well claim 
that there is latent ice in hot water, as 
to say that there is latent heat in cold 
water or a latent mountain in a mole 
hill. 

The process by which cold things 
are made hot in the ordinary course 
of nature is generally understood, but 
the process by which our earth is 
warmed by the sun's rays is not gener- 
ally understood, and hence the many 
conflicting theories on this subject. 
The latest, and now most generally re- 



16 MIND, MATTER 

ceived theory, by astronomers, is that 
the immense solar orb is shrinking, 
and that by this process of contraction 
it is producing an enormous quantity 
of heat, which is radiated into space 
from this common center, and of this 
only a small fractional part reaches the 
planets, and by far the greater part is 
a prodigal waste in boundless space. 

Now, if heat is regarded as an en- 
ergy in nature, and if, according to the 
materialistic theory, all energies are 
conserved and indestructible; where 
and how is this radiated heat con- 
served? We might as well claim that 
sunshine must be conserved or stored 
in some dark place to be utilized for 
other work in the future. This would 
be about as unphilosophical as Pro- 
fessor Balfour Steward's theory of a 
great waste heap somewhere in the 
universe where heat is stored away to 
burn up everything in the distant fu- 
ture. This theory of an eternal inde- 
structible energy as the ruling power of 
the universe has caused endless con- 
fusion and led to conclusions that can- 
not be made to harmonize with true 
science. 

But again, we will look at facts that 



AND MOTION. 1? 

cannot be denied in reference to solar 
heat, as it manifests itself on our earth. 
Rays of light from the sun, passing 
from a rare to a denser medium are 
refracted, and diverted from their nat- 
ural course. A double convex lens 
brings the rays together at a focus 
where the friction of these crowded 
rays will produce a burning fire. A 
concavo convex lens will produce a 
milder form of light and a less degree 
of heat. This is the condition of our 
atmosphere. It is denser than inter- 
stellar ether and concave inside and 
convex outside, and the density in- 
creases as we pass from the outer to 
the inner side. Hence, the sun gives 
us more heat in lower than in higher 
regions of the atmosphere. At the 
outer rim of our atmosphere the cold 
is so intense that no life, such as is 
known on our earth, could possibly ex- 
ist. Even on the highest mountains 
in tropical climates no vegetable nor 
animal life can exist. They are cov- 
ered with perpetual frost and snow. 
When the rays of light first strike our 
atmosphere they are diffused and there 
is a glow of light in all directions. As 
these rays descend they are refracted 



18 MIND, MATTER 

by the lens' action of the atmosphere, 
and this increases till the earth is 
reached; then the amount of heat is 
governed by the angle at which the 
sun's rays strike the atmosphere. In 
the winter the rays strike more ob- 
liquely, andtherefraction is diminished, 
while in the summer they come nearer 
the perpendicular and we have more 
heat, although we are three millions of 
miles farther from the sun in July than 
we are in January. 

Some recent writers have told us 
that the heat is in the sun's rays, but 
that it cannot manifest itself until it 
comes in contact with some hard sub- 
stance, such as the earth, and then it 
is produced by a concussion. This 
untenable theory meets its own refuta- 
tion in the fact that these rays of light 
fall on the vast mountain ranges with 
equal force as on the low lands, and 
there is no heat knocked out of them in 
those high altitudes. Again, if the 
heat from the sun was produced by 
this concussion we would have a more 
uniform temperature in the different 
seasons of the year, for it must be pre- 
sumed that the sun's rays strike with 
equal force always. 



AND MOTION. 19 

Among the strange theories ad- 
vanced on this subject is that by Pro- 
fessor Tyndall, that "one-half of the 
heat from the sun is kept from the 
earth by the aqueous vapors of our at- 
mosphere." 

Now, it can be demonstrated that 
this aqueous vapor in our atmosphere 
is one great cause of the heat we re- 
ceive from the sun. To demonstrate 
this I have constructed a water lens, 
and after passing the rays, of light 
through several inches of ice cold 
water I can produce a burning at the 
focus without changing the tempera- 
ture of the water through which the 
rays of light pass. By constructing a 
concavo convex lens, resembling the 
form of our atmosphere, and putting 
cold water between the outer and the 
inner glasses, and by allowing the rays 
of sunlight to strike this obliquely, the 
thermometer goes down and by turn- 
ing it toward the sun the thermometer 
rose 1 8 degrees on a cold winter day in 
a cold room and the sunlight coming 
in through a frosted window. To one 
who depends on facts to establish a 
theory, it is amusing to hear the wild 
conjectures of one who only guesses 



20 MIND, MATTER 

at things on which to build a 
theory. 

A lecturer in Chicago on astron- 
omy, some years ago, while endeav- 
oring to explain the nature of heat 
from the sun said: "I would fear to 
tell you the terrible condition our 
earth would be in if the atmosphere 
did not keep off from us a great part of 
the sun's heat." This man should 
have known that if we had no atmos- 
phere to change these electric rays 
into heat rays, no life could exist on 
our earth. 

From this theory we learn that 
changes of temperature so common in 
northern climates must depend on at- 
mospheric changes. We certainly 
cannot think that the sun's rays are 
warmer on one day than on another, 
but we are compelled to admit by un- 
deniable facts and by the sternest logic 
of events, that the changes of tempera- 
ture are caused by atmospheric con- 
ditions. These are not to be regarded 
as chance happenings or accidents in 
nature, but the results of an operation 
of natural laws established by an in- 
finite power. 



AND MOTION. 21 

THE CONDITIONS OF MATTER 
AND THE ORIGIN OF HU- 
MAN LIFE AND MIND. 

Matter exists under an endless va- 
riety of forms and conditions, such as 
solid, fluids and gases, ponderable and 
imponderable, visible and invisible, in 
simple elements and compounds; yet 
in all these combinations and changes 
its primal elements remain unchanged. 
The identity of a particle of 
matter cannot be destroyed by trans- 
formations or transmutations. What- 
ever may be said of the inherent en- 
ergy* or molecular motion, the one 
great truth remains, that inorganic 
matter is inert, and cannot transfer 
itself from one position or place to an- 
other. It can only move when it is 
acted upon by a force outside of or 
above itself, or by a life within it. 

Now, as we see inorganic matter in 
motion in every direction, we must 
conclude that it is under the control- 
ling influence of some power from out- 
side of itself, or some chemical or me- 
chanical force within, not natural to it, 
to which it must submit without a 
choice or will of its own. 



22 MIND, MATTER 

We also see matter controlled by a 
life within it, growing from small to 
large forms in the different depart- 
ments of animal and vegetable life. 
Here the question comes up with pe- 
culiar emphasis: Whence came this 
first impulse to move matter from the 
outside or this life that moves and con- 
trols it from within? Back of these 
there is- another important question: 
Whence came these helpless and inert 
forms of matter in their endless vari- 
ety? Again, did matter produce it- 
self, and then impart to itself the en- 
ergy by which it was put into motion? 
And, finally, did this unconscious en- 
ergy produce life and raise it from its 
lowest to its highest condition? These 
perplexing questions will continually 
come up before the mind of the specu- 
lative inquirers after the origin of 
things, without recognizing an infinite 
mind and an all-controlling power above 
nature. To the believer in the super- 
natural these questions are welcome 
messengers, coming up from the past 
eternity and the answer is at hand. 
Matter could not produce itself, and 
that life could not become connected 
with matter without a previous life and 



AND MOTION. 28 

life-giving power. This is now gen- 
erally received as a truth in biology, 
all life must come from a pre-existing 
life. Matter was first dowered with 
motion and then with the power and 
conditions to produce life. 

We need not seek to reconcile the 
Bible history of creation with the con- 
ceptions of modern materialistic 
science, or to make it harmonize with 
them, but will call attention to the his- 
tory of creation as recorded in the first 
chapter of Genesis, verse 20: "And 
God said, let the water bring forth 
abundantly the moving creature that 
hath life, and the fowl that may fly 
about the open firmament of heaven." 
Again, verse 24: "And God said, let 
the earth bring forth the living crea- 
ture after his kind, and cattle and 
creeping things, and beast of the earth 
after his kind, and it was so/' It is also 
stated in this connection that God 
CREATED these things. The word 
creation does not necessarily imply the 
making of something out of hand with- 
out the employment of secondary 
causes. It is often used to express a 
transformation or change from one 
condition to another. 



24 MIND, MATTER 

In the account given in Genesis we 
have, first, a preparation of the water 
and the earth, for the support of life, 
and then the vitalizing principle im- 
parted to these elements, and by this 
they were dowered with the power to 
BRING FORTH the different forms 
of life. We cannot account for this on 
any other principle than the designs 
of an infinite intelligence, executed by 
an Almighty Power. 

This gives to us a more exalted 
view of creation than the theory 
guessed at by evolutionists, that there 
were a few prime-ordeal germs from 
which the different conditions of life 
came, by a process of evolution, in- 
cluding the human race. Where, in 
all literature, will we find a more 
rational account of the beginning of 
life than here. 

This relieves us from the childish 
fancy that God, by some mechanical 
process, made all the different animals 
separately. He made the conditions 
for their existence and arranged the 
material for their nourishment, and by 
the power of his word and will they 
were "BROUGHT FORTH," so that 
in the highest sense he is the creator 



AND MOTION. 25 

of all things. In this connection we 
notice that the creation of man was 
by a different process, and any effort 
to place man's origin on the same level 
with the lower animals indicates a dis- 
belief in one of the fundamental doc- 
trines of theology. It is the denial of 
a power above nature and a rejection 
of the supernatural. 

The recognition of the infinite and 
controlling power is the only postu- 
late on which we can build a rational 
theory of the origin of life and the 
constancy and course of the universe. 

The aim of modern science now is 
to admit some theological ideas, such 
as they can bring in harmony with 
their atheistic conception of cosmog- 
ony, and to form a new system of re- 
ligion that will reject all ideas of the 
supernatural. 

A careful study of the relation of 
different parts to one immense and 
harmonious whole, will naturally lead 
the thoughtful mind in the direction 
of the supernatural, a power that is 
not inherent in matter, nor produced 
by natural laws. 

A materialistic philosophy objects 
to the word supernatural and claims 



26 MIND, MATTER 

that all the operations are carried on 
by a natural process. 

A moment's reflection and thought 
of our surroundings will show the er- 
ror of such conclusions. Our houses 
do not build themselves. Machines do 
not put themselves in operation. Our 
garments do not make themselves, and 
the thousands of comfortable things 
that come to our needy would all come 
through instrumentalities that are 
above the operation of mere natural 
laws. When rough materials are 
formed into a beautiful dwelling-place 
we know some mind has ordered it so. 



HOW TRUTH MAY BE FOUND. 

The safest way to find truth, when it 
is surrounded with numerous errors, 
is to test theories by experiments in 
such a manner as to make mistakes 
impossible. This is the only way in 
which we can pass from mere theories 
and conjectures to well-established 
facts in all branches of knowledge. 

Many of the great and well-estab- 
lished truths in physical science were 
first advanced as theories, and when 



AND MOTION. 27 

fully demonstrated by facts they were 
classed as established science. 

When new discoveries in art or 
science are offered, the first question 
should be : Can they be demonstrated 
by properly conducted experiments. 
If a machine is invented the question 
is : Will it perform the w r ork for which 
it was designed? All things have their 
value or importance to the great store 
of scientific knowledge, through the 
result of fairly conducted experiments. 
Everything claiming to be a contribu- 
tion to science that does not come 
within this range should be rejected. 
If this principle were strittly observed 
and everything erased from books that 
are published in the name of science 
that cannot be demonstrated, at least 
one-third of the writings of our times, 
on scientific subjects, would be re- 
jected. This is evident from the fact 
that numerous contradictory and con- 
flicting statements are made by differ- 
ent writers on the same subjects claim- 
ing to be scientific discussions, and 
generally without facts to sustain them, 
and yet these books are published as 
scientific discoveries. 

I have made experiments in elec- 



28 MIND, MATTER 

tricity which, according to the best of 
my knowledge, have not been made 
before, and the conclusion arrived at 
from them are of the most startling 
and important kind. If I am not mis- 
taken, and I think I am not, our theory 
of cosmogony, in some respects, will 
be replaced by another. My theory 
is that gravitation is only one part of 
the controlling power in planetary mo- 
tion, and that worlds are moved, held 
together and governed by the laws of 
magnetic attraction and repulsion, in 
connection with the general law of 
gravitation. If my theory is true, it is 
evident that it is one of far-reaching 
importance. I mention that the sun 
is an immense electric light, as stated 
in a previous chapter. The general 
storehouse of the solar system for elec- 
tricity and that all celestial bodies 
move, not by the law of gravitation 
alone, but by the law of magnetic at- 
traction and repulsion. 

Newton saw one apple fall and re- 
ceived an impression in reference to 
the law of gravitation. Now, under 
favorable atmospheric conditions, 
when the atmosphere is dry and cold 
and the wind blows from the north I 



AND MOTION. 29 

can suspend an apple in the air in the 
following manner: I tie a string to 
the stem of the apple and fasten the 
other end of the string to a large sheet 
of paper, and then lay the paper on my 
desk or press it against the wall, and 
by passing my hand over it, in a half a 
minute I will produce electro magnet- 
ism enough to hold an apple sus- 
pended in the air. 

I can then, by electro-magnetism, 
make the apple, or any other substance 
suspended in the air, move around on 
its axes from east to west or from west 
to east, without any visible force com- 
ing in contact with it, and reverse these 
motions at my pleasure by causing a 
magnetic current to pass around it. 

Again, I can take two large sheets 
of paper, of equal weight, say ten to 
fifteen grains weight, the one elec- 
trified and the other in its natural state. 
The one with the electricity will fly up 
and adhere to something above it, 
while the other will fall to the floor. 

Now, if the motion of a surface four 
inches square will cause fifteen grains 
in weight to fly in opposition to the 
laws of gravitation here on earth, 
where electric currents are interfered 



30 MIND, MATTER 

with by the aqueous vapor of the at- 
mosphere, what may we expect from 
the motion of the sun and the planets 
through ether space, where there is no 
such interference and where the sur- 
face producing friction is almost be- 
yond the reach of mathematical calcu- 
lation? I have, under favorable at- 
mospheric conditions, produced mag- 
netic attraction in a half a minute, 
strong enough to hold a pound weight 
suspended in the air. 

I assume that electricity is an entity 
in nature, and not merely the result of 
chemical or mechanical action. The 
manifestations of this giant power are 
too strong and multifarious to admit 
that they are only the result of other 
and inferior agents. These only serve 
to bring this pre-existing entity into 
active operation. 

Here we have undeniable facts, ar- 
rived at by carefully conducted experi- 
ments, and not merely by guessing that 
these things might be so. 

We should look at nature as a great 
school, where the object lessons are 
atoms, and worlds, and suns and stars. 
We should give heed to their instruc- 
tions with profound attention and 



AND MOTION. 31 



gather up every fragment of truth scat- 
tered over these boundless fields, and 
from them learn all that is allowed for 
us to know of that infinite power that 
rules and controls the whole. In one 
sense 

"All matter is God's tongue; 
Out from its motions God's thoughts 

are sung; 
And the realms of space are the octave 

bars, 
And the music notes are the sun's and 

stars." 
These tones are not heard by mortal 
ears, yet we see them "leap into space 
from a thousand choirs" to sing the 
epic of the starry heavens. 

Facts in science that can be demon- 
strated as such point in the direction 
of a supreme ruler of the universe, 
while the speculations of modern 
science point in the direction of athe- 
ism and the final failure of nature's 
energies. 

COMBINED FORCES OF NA- 
TURE. 
In every part of this vast universe, 
in the great or in the small, we see 
evidences of an all-controlling mind. 



32 MIND, MATTER 

The ' lines of force, originating in 
the Infinite Power, move out as in- 
struments in the hands of this Power, 
which acts on nature through the 
operation of changeless laws, and not 
by an uncreated energy that is hasten- 
ing to its final doom. 

This, however, brings to the border 
line of mysteries beyond which we 
cannot pass; but the mystery is more 
profound by the assumption of an 
eternal unconscious energy than in 
the recognition of an eternal intelligent 
Power. If we are forced to admit that 
by the operation of natural laws many 
things occur that cause human suffer- 
ing, we must also admit that by the 
operation of these same laws multi- 
plied thousands of things come to us 
that satisfy our wants and especially 
contribute to our happiness of body 
and mind. When it is said, "The 
Lord sendeth his rain upon the just 
and upon the unjust," we are not to 
believe that by some supernatural 
power he formed the clouds and put 
the water into them and then caused 
them to pour out their contents upon 
the earth. There are numerous in- 
termediate forces, each performing a 



AND MOTION. 33 

separate part in this process of bring- 
ing rain. There must be the lifting 
power of the sun's rays to take up the 
water; the formation of the clouds; 
and the power of the atmosphere to 
sustain the clouds, and the wind as 
motive power to propel them onward 
in their course; and finally the power 
of gravitation to bring the rain from 
the clouds to the earth. 

Among the great working forces in 
nature we find electro-magnetism and 
repulsion. 

There is a pull and a push through- 
out the vast empire of matter. Elec- 
tro-magnetism plays an important part 
in these strange phenomena. While 
making some experiments along this 
line I was myself surprised at the re- 
sults, so that I concluded to make 
a record of them to illustrate my views. 
But fearing that I might be charged 
with an exaggeration from an excited 
imagination I called at the office of 
my friend, Dr. Cady, a prominent den- 
tist. I told him I wished to explain 
the flight of birds through the air. 
I had with me a bunch of duck feath- 
ers, and laid them on the table. I then 
told the Doctor I would make a few 



34 MIND, MATTER 



passes with my hand over a sheet of 
paper, not stronger than the motion 
of a duck's wing striking the air. When 
I held this paper from four to six 
inches distant over the bunch of feath- 
ers they immediately flew up and fas- 
tened themselves to this paper at one 
end, while the other end stood at right 
angles from the paper, quivering and 
shaking as if some power was pulling 
them to get them away from the paper ; 
and so it did, for a number of them 
were pulled off and immediately fas- 
tened themselves to something else in 
another direction. I then turned the 
paper around while these feathers were 
standing on one end and the other 
end trembling in the air. I then 
passed my left hand under the paper 
some distance from the paper, and 
with every motion of my hand they 
would jump and crawl over the paper 
like living things in rapid motion. 

Dr. Cady was so deeply interested 
and so highly delighted with the ex- 
periment that he said, "It is too im- 
portant for me to witness it alone," 
and called in his friend Dr. Newman, 
before whom I repeated the experi- 
ments. 



AND MOTION. 35 

I explained to them that electro- 
magnetism was produced by the mo- 
tion of the wings like I produced it 
by the motion of my hands, and this 
is the reason why large fowls or birds 
sail through the air with such appar- 
ent ease. I have made numerous ex- 
periments of this kind to show the in- 
timate relation between vital forces 
and electro-magnetism, and will make 
more definite explanations further on. 
I only here refer to the universal law 
of electro-magnetism and its control- 
ling influence over moving bodies. 
One law in physical science is that 
experiments made on a small scale will 
illustrate what can be done on a large 
scale. The difference is not qualita- 
tive but only quantitative. 

The small portion of the power of 
electricity now employed in machin- 
ery and for light and heat and run- 
ning trains for traffic and travel, can 
give us only a limited idea of its power 
in holding and guiding suns and 
worlds, as they move in their endless 
circuits through boundless space. 

If gravitation acted alone on these 
celestial bodies without the counteract- 
ing and controlling influence of elec- 



36 MIND, MATTER 

tro-magnetic repulsion, suns and their 
satellites would be drawn into a solid 
mass and wreck and ruin would be the 
final doom of all revolving bodies. 

This is no idle dream of the imag- 
ination. It is a truth that comes 
within the range of human knowledge 
and scientific demonstration; and be- 
comes more clear as we advance in 
our investigation of the nature of elec- 
tricity, and its influence in the govern- 
ment of the physical universe. 

Electricity performs an important 
part in producing the light of the sun 
and conducting these rays of light 
through inter-stellar ether space to the 
different planets and their satellites. 

Electricity pervades all ether space, 
penetrates all substances, and, like a 
slumbering giant, only waits to be 
called into activity by some dynamic 
power, when it will show its strength 
in the work it is directed to perform. 

Scientific investigation gives daily 
new evidences of the extent of this 
power in Nature. It runs out along 
a slender wire, by which it is conducted 
to the car wheels, and they move like 
living things with the crowds of pas- 
sengers, through the city. 



AND MOTION. 37 

How few of us realize the fact that 
while we are passing to or from our 
daily toil or seeking amusement or 
pleasure in riding on these electric 
cars that we are all on board of a more 
magnificent train — this earth. This 
wonderful chariot of the sky, in its 
journey around the sun, moves over 
sixty-five thousand miles in an hour 
without a danger of coming in conflict 
with the other numerous bodies mov- 
ing around the same central sun. 

According to the knowledge we gain 
by experiments on a small scale, we 
are led to the conclusion that these 
revolving planets in their rapid move- 
ment through space must be centers 
of power to evolve electro-magnetism 
to an almost unlimited extent. 

If the planets are an offspring from 
the sun, as the Nebular hypothesis 
claims, we may naturally conclude 
that these circling orbs may contrib- 
ute their part in supplying the grand 
old luminary with materials out of 
which sunshine is made. This would 
be an illustration of the corelation of 
force; but by no means a proof of the 
eternal equivalents of forces, accord- 
ing to the materialistic conceptions. 



38 MIND, MATTER 

This corelation between the sun and 
the planets gives us a more rational 
view than the old theories of the sun 
consuming cosmical matter, and then 
to meet an inglorious ending when all 
the meteoric showers are consumed 
by a process of combustion. It is also 
opposed to the later theory that the 
light and heat of the sun are kept up 
by the shrinking of the sun. 

This shrinking theory must finally 
yield to the demands of advancing sci- 
ence. 

All theories hitherto offered on the 
cause of solar heat, and radiation, im- 
ply a w r aste of energies and the final 
destruction of the solar orb, and con- 
sequently an eternal night on all of 
the planets where the existence of life 
is possible. The same destiny would 
await all the sun systems in the uni- 
verse. A gloomy picture, painted in 
the imagination of the atheist, who 
says in his heart, "there is no God." 
If the theories referred to were true 
these gloomy conclusions necessarily 
follow; But there is no proof to sus- 
tain them. The sentiments of some 
of the greatest and best men that ever 
lived are against such a disastrous end- 



AND MOTION. 30 

ing of a system of worlds, where every 
particle and form of matter give evi- 
dence that they are the product of an 
infinite intelligence. 

With such views we need not be 
disturbed in reference to the future 
progress of this great universal em- 
pire of matter. The changes that 
have taken place in the past, so clearly 
indicated by geological research in 
material nature, and the condition of 
things may be regarded as prophesies 
of changes to come in the future, and 
these will more likely be changes from 
a lower to a higher condition, than a 
falling back to decay and final destruc- 
tion. Nature, in her progress, has a 
voice of encouragement to those who 
look into the future, and contemplate 
her extended fields with confidence 
and hope. 

Should any of the old pass away the 
promise is, "behold I make all things 
new." "There shall be a new heaven 
and a new earth." If we take an ima- 
ginary journey through space, and 
view the motion of planets around 
their central suns and reason from our 
knowledge of terrestrial electricity and 
magnetism, we learn important les- 



40 MIND, MATTER 

sons. We know something of the 
power of attraction and repulsion that 
may be produced by electrical action 
on a small scale, and by calculating 
results from increasing magnitudes 
we may form some idea of the dy- 
namic power produced by the revolu- 
tion of celestial bodies. If we view 
the sun as in a highly charged elec- 
tric condition, and this condition main- 
tained by the action of surrounding 
globes as dynamos of immense power 
and exhaustless resources, we need 
have no fears of the final ending of this 
solar system from a want of light and 
heat. The planets that are moving 
around the sun in their orbits and 
whirling around on their axes are not 
there as mere dumbbells for the amuse- 
ment of astronomers, who calculate 
their distance, magnitudes and pe- 
riods of revolution. 

They are there for a purpose, and 
are held in the mighty grasp of the 
sun's attraction to keep them from 
wandering into unknown space, and 
they are kept from falling into the sun 
by electric repulsion, and these two 
balancing forces hold them to their 
work and guide them in their orbits. 



AND MOTION. 41 

Whatever different stages the sun 
and the solar system may have passed 
through in the process of rising from 
a chaotic mass of formless matter to 
its present condition, by the operation 
of natural laws, the devout astron- 
omer, the Christian philosopher, as 
well as the most humble dweller on 
this earth, who recognize the supreme 
Power, will attribute all these opera- 
tions to this ultimate Power. 

The conclusion we arrive at is that 
the sun itself was formed by a union 
of different parts and qualities of mat- 
ter. 

It was then dowered with powers 
and energies to act on other parts in 
the great drama of creation. 

The unity of matter, in its different 
elements, as revealed by the spectro- 
scope, presents a strong argument in 
favor of the unity of origins. 

From every star and from every 
world where light has come to us we 
have proof that the same elements con- 
tained in our earth are also found in 
those distant worlds. All existing 
things must have their origin in an 
eternal intelligent existence. 

We are led to the conclusion that 



42 MIND, MATTER 

while matter has been tending to 
changes it has also been blending with 
higher forms and more beautiful com- 
binations corresponding with the prog- 
ress of human minds and human 
skill. Every globe or revolving body 
must necessarily have a magnetic cen- 
ter around which the materials are 
attracted to build it up to its destined 
size. 

Outside of, and apart from, an in- 
telligent cause, we can find no answer 
to the question how these magnetic 
centers found their proper location in 
space, to move in harmony with other 
large globes revolving around one 
common center at different distances 
and well-defined periods of time. That 
these magnetic centers do exist, to 
which materials are attracted for world 
building, is a fact that can be demon- 
strated by a scientific process of rea- 
soning. 

The theory, based upon the Nebu- 
lar hypothesis, that parts were thrown 
off from the central mass, out of which 
worlds were formed, cannot be recon- 
ciled with the laws of gravitation 
alone. Neither can the axel or orbital 
motion of the planets be brought into 



AND MOTION. 43 

harmony with these laws as published 
by Newton, and now generally recog- 
nized as true. 

Here we have to deal with attrac- 
tion and repulsion. While parts of 
matter are drawn in one direction as 
a positive draws a negative, another 
part is repelled, as a positive by a posi- 
tive. These laws of positive and neg- 
ative attraction and repulsion are uni- 
versal in their nature. On them the 
variety and harmony and stability of 
the universe depend. We see this 
law manifested in the growth of trees, 
their leaves, and all things through- 
out the vegetable kingdom, in blades 
of grass, leaves of plants and buds and 
flowers. 

We seldom, if ever, see a perfect 
circle in nature. The planets move in 
elliptic orbits around the sun. Every 
shape and form of matter gives evi- 
dence of this attractive and repellant 
force in nature. The irregularities in 
formation seen everywhere show that 
there are antagonizing forces that 
work everywhere, producing variety 
as well as harmony and beauty. Na- 
ture wears her garments of many 
forms, as well as of many colors, and 



44 MIND, MATTER 

challenges our admiration in her va- 
riety, as well as in her harmony. These 
working forces have their home in 
the sun as the great central power of 
our solar system. 

The nature and the effect of the 
sun's rays of light give unmistakable 
proof that they are not the product of 
the ordinary combustion of cosmical 
matter. Neither can they be the re- 
sult of the sun's shrinking upon itself! 
They are dowered with a vivifying 
power found nowhere else in nature. 
Shut them off from any part of the 
earth and there is darkness and death. 
Let them have an unobstructed influ- 
ence, and life and activity spring up 
under the magic touch of the sunbeam. 

In this vast storehouse of vitalizing 
forces we see a coming and a going, 
a pulling and a pushing, an expansion 
and contraction, a rising and a fall- 
ing; not in dire confusion, producing 
horrid and unsightly forms and deadly 
poisons, but fragrant flowers, with 
beautiful colors, and birds with beau- 
tiful plumage. 

All these things come from the op- 
eration of laws established by an om- 
nipotent Power. 



AND MOTION. 45 

Theism claims that this all-control- 
ling power existed before matter ap- 
peared, and before life was in any way 
connected with matter. Atheism is 
compelled to acknowledge these phe- 
nomena of existence, and with scalpel 
and microscope in hand, and by chem- 
ical tests seeks for the origin of life 
in matter; and the origin of matter in 
an unconscious, unintelligent eternal 
energy; but this effort finds its utmost 
limits in mysteries incomprehensible. 



CARE FOR THE HOUSE WE 
LIVE IN. 

The marvelous structure of the hu- 
man body is composed of the same ma- 
terial that is found in nature every- 
where. Among these are Oxygen, 
Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Cal- 
cium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sul- 
phur, Chlorine, Sodium, Magnesium, 
Iron, Fluorine. 

These elements are arranged in 
their proper order to build up this 
dwelling place for our higher and 
moral nature. 

The dweller in this temple of so many 
compartments is endowed with voli- 



46 MIND, MATTER 



tion, and to a certain extent of exer- 
cising a watchful care over the differ- 
ent parts of this dwelling place. 

No organic system is so> wonderfully 
arranged as the human body. If we 
look with care at the different parts 
and their different functions we will 
be led to the same conclusion we ar- 
rive at when contemplating nature in 
her adaptation to the wants of the hu- 
man race 

"There's an infinite presence every- 
where, 
And it beats like a pulse on each globe 

of air, 
There's infinite will from an infinite 

cause, 
Which twines throughout nature's 
harmonic laws." 
In looking at some of the prominent 
parts of this wonderful system we will 
especially notice the nervous system. 
These lines of intercommunication 
have been laid with a master hand, and 
to a certain extent they are in our care, 
and we become responsible for their 
normal action. Nothing in the whole 
animal economy is so complex and so 
wonderful in its operation as this. All 
animals, except, perhaps, some of the 
lowest forms, are supplied with nerves 



AND MOTION. i; 

of motion and sensation, but the com- 
plexity increases as we ascend from the 
lower forms of organic life, and with 
this increase the susceptibility to im- 
pressions from external surroundings, 
as well as from internal disturbance, 
also increases. It is only in the higher 
classes of animals the nerve power can 
get such a control of the muscles as to 
force them from their natural position 
and functions and produce the condi- 
tion called spasms. A pig with its 
coarse nervous system, and a goose 
with its small brain, are not subject to 
spasms. The dog and the cat, with 
some other animals of a higher grade 
of nerve development, are more or less 
subject to spasms. 

The more highly cultivated of the 
human race are more susceptible to a 
derangement of the nervous system 
than the uneducated and laboring 
classes. This comes from the fact that 
the brain and other nerve centers are 
often overtaxed by severe mental ex- 
ertion, or disturbed in their healthy 
action by physical derangements and 
diseases, brought upon ourselves by 
our ignorance of the laws of our phy- 
sical nature. 



48 MIND, MATTER 

The nervous system is a telegraphic 
or electric apparatus of the finest struc- 
ture and of the highest type and will 
act as a telephone or telegraph to any 
part of the system, and it requires con- 
stant care to keep it in a good condi- 
tion. 

The want of proper attention would 
soon render the best constructed tele- 
graphic system useless. But how 
roughly do many treat these finely 
attenuated nerves. These proceeding 
from the brain and spinal column meet 
at way stations called ganglion. These 
are situated in different parts of the 
body, like towns and villages in a 
country. Into these the different 
branches enter like so* many roads in 
a village. From these small centers 
they pass out, each one to the minutest 
ramifications, retaining their peculiar 
functions and performing the work for 
which they were intended. Among 
the marvelous things connected with 
the nervous system is their peculiar 
action along the different branches, ac- 
cording to impressions made upon the 
nerve centers by mental emotions. 

A fit of anger may sometimes excite 
the whole system to such an extent 



AND MOTION. 49 

that reason is dethroned, and a man 
may, for a moment, act like a furious 
animal, beyond the bounds of account- 
ability for his actions. In some in- 
stances a kind word affectionately 
spoken with a magnetic hand gently 
passed over the excited brain will allay 
the storm of passion ; the clouds of an- 
ger will pass away and a moral sun- 
shine will beam from the frowning 
eyes, till they are kindled into a glow 
of love and affection. 

Excessive grief or joy, over which 
we may have no control, will often 
send a message along the line leading 
to the glands where the tears are se- 
creted, and the little floodgates are 
opened, through which tears flow out 
in streams. 

Hunger, in the presence of good 
things to eat, will send a messenger in 
another direction, and open the little 
water glands in the mouth, and "the 
mouth waters," and mysterious nature 
says to the tempting food: I am 
ready for you. 

All parts of the body are under the 
influence of the nervous system, and 
by its action and reaction the body 
has its storms and calms. No one can 



50 MIND, MATTER 

enjoy good health with a broken-down 
nervous system, and a healthy body is 
necessary to keep up a healthy condi- 
tion of the nerves. Both should be 
under the controlling influence of a 
well-informed mind in reference to the 
laws of life and health. 

We should depend more on our own 
good judgment to keep our nerves in 
a healthy condition than on the ad- 
vertised medicines recommended for 
this purpose. 



STRENGTH OBTAINED BY LA- 
BOR. 

If the human race had been placed 
upon the earth and abundantly sup- 
plied with all needful things in food 
and raiment, without any demand 
upon our mental or physical exertions, 
the race would never have arrived at 
the high intellectual and physical 
standard that has marked its career 
through the past ages. With our 
present conditions and surroundings 
we are impelled by our needs to make 
exertions for our supplies in temporal 
things and our natural desire for 



AND MOTION. 51 

knowledge prompts us to exercise our 
mental powers for their improvement 
and our advancement in knowledge. 

In all ages and among all nations, 
as a general rule, human happiness 
and prosperity have, in a great meas- 
ure, depended on conditions within the 
reach of the great majority of man- 
kind. The industrious and economi- 
cal would prosper and secure to them- 
selves pleasant and comfortable homes, 
while the shiftless and the indifferent 
would bring suffering upon them- 
selves. 

Before letters were invented and be- 
fore books were written, the minds of 
men became interested in studying 
some of the great problems of nature. 

After securing a comfortable dwell- 
ing place in some tent or cave the in- 
quiring mind of primitive man en- 
gaged in those studies that had a ten- 
dency to direct his mind to a power 
above himself. Among the first and 
most important of these studies un- 
doubtedly was the study of the stars. 

The lonely traveler, or the dweller 
in his tent or cave, could look upon 
this vast volume of nature, and with 
wonder and adoration view these shin- 



52 MIND, MATTER 

ing orbs in their apparent march 
through space. 

The stars were regarded with a kind 
of veneration, and in some instances 
as objects of worship. 

These studies, without books or 
charts to guide them, gave strength 
to the human mind, while labor for 
food and raiment developed the phy- 
sical form; and thus by labor and toil 
the race became long-lived and 
strong. Thousands of lives have 
been shortened and many have gone 
to premature graves from a want of 
a proper exercise of their mental and 
physical powers. 

Labor and toil, in the different 
fields spread out before us, are in har- 
mony with our relations to a sur- 
rounding world of mind and matter; 
while a refusal to enter into these ex- 
tended fields produces discontent, 
weakness, and premature decay. 
Work is the Divine order in the 
realms of nature and should be so 
in the realms of mind. The progress 
from low to higher conditions in the 
past gives us a prophecy of what is 
to come in the future. 

When letters were invented and 



AND MOTION. 53 

the art of writing was gradually im- 
proved, and it was found that the con- 
ceptions of the human mind could be 
recorded so as to make them durable, 
and hand them down to coming gen- 
erations, a system of astrology was 
formed. In this the stars were named 
and numbered, and formed into ima- 
ginary groups, representing human 
forms and animals, and various kinds 
of images suggested by the supersti- 
tious ideas of those early times. These 
were supposed to have a controlling 
influence over the destinies of nations 
and individuals, while some incor- 
porated them in their religious wor- 
ship. 

This arrangement and grouping of 
the stars has come down to us from 
the dim and distant past, and the 
teachings of these ancient astrologers 
are, in some respects, adhered to by 
learned men in our advanced state 
of civilization and scientific research. 
Out of this system of astrology came 
the study of astronomy; but many 
centuries passed before a correct 
knowledge of the movement of the 
planets of our solar system was ob- 
tained. 



54 MIND, MATTER 

Until the days of Copernicus it was 
believed that the earth was the center 
of the universe, and that the sun and 
the stars revolved around this im- 
movable center every twenty-four 
hours. Copernicus exploded these er- 
roneous views, and gave us the true 
system of revolving planets and their 
satellites around the sun as the cen- 
ter of our solar system. 

Since his time and the invention 
of the telescope, great progress has 
been made in mathematical astron- 
omy. Many things that were involved 
in mystery artiong the ancients have 
passed into the realms of certain 
knowledge under the teachings of 
modern science. The measuring line 
of the astronomer has been extended 
into boundless space, and distance 
and periods of revolution have been 
calculated with an accuracy that 
amounts to a scientific certainty. 

All these efforts have given strength 
to the human intellect and dignity to 
human character and widened the line 
of separation between human beings 
and the lower class of animals. These 
remain the same through all historic 
ages, while man has been progressing 



AND MOTION. 55 



by labor and toil, and continued new 
discoveries indicate that the goal has 
not been reached, and the boundaries 
of human discoveries and inventions 
have not been passed. 

The effort for a mastery over the 
mysteries of nature have been success- 
ful in many departments of knowl- 
edge. Yet there are large fields still 
open to inquiring minds. Some 
things, however, published as scien- 
tific discoveries ten or fifteen years 
ago, are now obsolete, while many 
others remain in obscurity, and the 
only purpose they serve is a matter 
of amusement to persons of progres- 
sive minds and advanced thought, who 
build their theories on verified facts. 

Where there is a regular succession 
of facts, one hinging on another, as 
so many links in a great chain of truth, 
we must carefully examine the funda- 
mental truth to be established, and in 
what way others are connected with 
the first link in the chain. Or, to use 
another figure, and look at it as as- 
cending from lower to higher condi- 
tions, if we commence at the first 
round of the ladder on which we ex- 
pect to ascend, and pass up step by 



56 MIND, MATTER 

step to the highest pinnacle of human 
reason and human knowledge, and 
can prove that no defects can be found 
in any one of the steps on which we 
have ascended, we have a right to 
demand that our theory shall pass from 
the realms of hypothesis to the solid 
foundation of scientific truth. 



THE LIMITATIONS TO HUMAN 
KNOWLEDGE. 

We do not claim to understand the 
Power manifested in nature, nor the 
methods by which infinite designs are 
accomplished. Science may claim 
to understand the operation of nat- 
ural laws; but even here our knowl- 
edge is very limited. We see natural 
phenomena and ascribe them to nat- 
ural causes, and imagine we have done 
something in the way of illustrating 
nature, but we have only been playing 
with toys in the outer court of the 
great temple of nature, and cannot ex- 
plain the process how things are done. 

We know that when the rays of light 
flash out from the solar orb they rush 
through cold and dark space with an 
immense velocity, and make their 



AND MOTION. 57 

journey to our earth in about eight 
minutes, a distance of ninety-two and 
a half millions of miles. 

Science accomplished something 
when it measured the distance of the 
earth from the sun and calculated the 
time for the sun's light to reach our 
earth. When it arrives here in ex- 
haustless floods of bright rays science 
may attempt to explain the laws of 
solar radiation, but behind these ex- 
planations there are mysteries above 
human comprehension. Why does it 
travel so rapidly? What gives it this 
impulse? We cannot tell. No rag- 
ing storm, in a clear sky, can turn 
a sunbeam from its course nor retard 
its speed. Its different beautiful col- 
ors blend into one bright and shining 
light, and these colors can only be seen 
when thrown apart by a refracting 
prism. Science, so far, has given us 
no certain information in reference to 
its source nor the cause of its exhaust- 
less supply. 

If we ask the most illiterate person 
we meet what it is, we will be told "IT 
IS SUNSHINE/' and if we ask the 
philosopher the same question, he can 
tell us no more. IT IS SUNSHINE. 



58 MIND, MATTER 

This is a truth known to all. But when 
science attempts to explain the origin 
and cause of this mysterious thing, its 
different colors and qualities, there 
are so many different theories ad- 
vanced that no one can be received 
as a true statement of facts. Here all 
is uncertainty and confusion in the 
scientific ranks, and the deepest con- 
victions of our moral nature force us 
to the conclusion that there must be 
an infinite mind above these strange 
phenomena. 

We are told that such a Power is 
incomprehensible to human minds 
and cannot be admitted in scientific 
discussions. We might as well doubt 
the existence of the sun because we 
cannot comprehend sunshine. Or of 
heat because we cannot define it nor 
tell what it is. 

I said to our hired girl one day when 
she was kindling the fire, "Mary, what 
is heat?" "Why," said she, "it is 
something that is made by the fuel 
when it burns." "But can't you tell 
what it is?" She replied, "It is some- 
thing that makes us warm," and this 
is about all that the learned philoso- 
pher can tell us about it. 



AND MOTION. 59 

No machinery ever invented by 
human skill has run with such un- 
varying exactness as our solar system. 
The balance wheel of these natural 
motions must be under the control of 
an infinite mind. The tendency of our 
times to reject the supernatural arises 
from a conception of science which 
claims only to deal w T ith nature under 
the operation of natural laws. This is 
all right so far as the purely scientific 
aspect of the subject is concerned. 
But the mistake of materialistic sci- 
ence is in the denial of the supernat- 
ural in the origin of things and the 
arrangement of those natural laws. 

It does not require as great a strain 
on human credulity to assume that 
an infinite life and Power existed be- 
fore matter was formed, as to believe 
that matter had an independent exist- 
ence from eternity past, and that all 
life, with all the intellectual powers of 
philosophers and statesmen, are noth- 
ing more than the accidental out- 
growth of some combinations of mat- 
ter. 

Are we to believe that the poems 
of Milton and the discoveries of New- 
ton, with the wisdom of the great men 



60 MIND, MATTER 

who have handed down their discov- 
eries in art and science in volumes of 
the finest literature the world has ever 
known, are nothing more than trans- 
muted bread and meat and potatoes, 
or some other food digested by human 
stomachs. 

Human minds, with all their mar- 
velous capacities, are not mere results 
of assimilation of crude substances by 
a digestive process. Mind must be 
traced to a higher source. The horse 
and the ox and the mule and the pig 
may all be fed on the same food that 
man lives on, and yet their brains have 
never arrived at the sublime concep- 
tions of statesmen, poets and philoso- 
phers. As to their progress in music 
or the art of expressing themselves in 
words, there is not the least sign of 
progress. The horse neighs, the ox 
bellows, the mule brays, and the pig 
squeals, just as they did thousands of 
years ago, and yet the same particles 
of matter enter into their systems that 
build up the human system and pro- 
duce the human brain with its mar- 
velous powers. 

Prof. Tyndall says : "Matter contains 
in itself the promise and potency of 



AND MOTION. 61 

all life." But whence came this poten- 
tial energy, if it exists in matter? 

If materialists could prove the spon- 
taneous generation of some of the 
lower forms of life from peculiar com- 
binations of matter they would gain 
nothing in their argument against a 
special creation. The question then 
would be: Did matter produce itself 
and impart to itself the power to pro- 
duce life? There is a philosophical 
demand for a creative power and this 
we call supernatural. 

Is it more difficult to believe that 
an infinite and eternally existing life 
produced all things, than to believe 
that nature produced itself; that all 
life had its origin in matter, and that 
all laws governing the universe, and 
all life, have resulted from a mere 
chance combination of molecular mo- 
tion? 

Where do we find the deepest mys- 
tery? Not in the conception of an in- 
finite creator; but in the idea of an 
eternal unconscious energy without 
volition or a self-determining power. 
The believer in the supernatural does 
not call the accidents of blind chance 
his parents, nor the undirected move- 



62 MIND, MATTER 

ment of molecules his brother or sis- 
ter. 

But the materialistic philosopher 
will tell us that natural phenomena 
are not the result of chance but the 
product of well-established natural 
laws. But, we may ask again, whence 
came these laws? Did they form 
themselves and put themselves into 
operation without a controlling power 
to direct them? This would be a mys- 
tery above all mysteries. On the 
other hand, if the materialist admits 
a primal intelligent power he must 
finally yield to the demands of the 
supernaturalist. 

One day of bright sunshine should 
suffice to dispel the gloom of atheism 
from every reflecting mind. One 
thoughtful look at nature should im- 
press every reasoning mind with the 
idea that the Power above us must 
have thought of us when all things 
were made — when the sun was made 
to shine upon our earth and become 
a storehouse of richest treasures for 
the inhabitants of the earth, although 
we cannot comprehend the process by 
which these things were accomplished. 

We may be as ignorant of the ori- 



AND MOTION. 63 

gin of these things as the child in the 
cradle is of the materials of which the 
cradle is made. The child feels the 
motion of the cradle, sees the mother 
and hears the sound of her voice. 
These are simple facts to the child; 
but how the motion, sight and sounds 
were produced it does not know. It 
rests quietly in its little home until it 
outgrows it. As soon as it can rea- 
son from effect to cause every attempt 
to teach the child that all these things 
were matters of chance would be use- 
less. 

It knows that someone made the 
cradle, that some hand moved it and 
that someone produced the voice in 
the song. 

We see and hear, sights and sounds 
and motions surround us in every di- 
rection, and is it not reasonable to be- 
lieve that an intelligent Power moves 
above those strange phenomena in na- 
ture. 

"The heavens declare the glory of 
God and the firmament showeth his 
handiwork." 

So marvelous are the operations of 
nature and so uniform are the results 
produced that among all nations there 



64 MIND, MATTER 

has been a deep impression that above 
these great working forces there must 
be supernatural Power. 

Modern science, with its material- 
istic tendency, has made strong efforts 
to reject the term supernatural, even 
on subjects connected with theology. 

Some of our theological teachers 
have already yielded an assent to these 
demands, and assert that all natural 
phenomena must be regarded as the 
result of natural causes; but it must 
be remembered that this nature which 
does such wonderful things is not a 
mechanism that produced itself, and 
put itself in motion. We admit that 
when nature was ordained to do a 
thing in a certain way it could do it in 
no other way than along the line of its 
own laws; but above these laws is the 
Infinite Mind and Will. 

The teachings of the materialistic 
philosophy come in conflict with the 
deepest convictions of the highest or- 
der of intelligence when viewed in con- 
nection with natural phenomena. It is 
not the comprehension of mysteries 
that theology demands, but a recogni- 
tion of the Power that controls them. 
The ancient patriarch Job was im- 



AND MOTION. 65 

pressed with this when he said: "Lo 
these are parts of his ways; but how 
little a portion is heard of him? But 
the thunder of his power who can un- 
derstand?" 

We know that the great center of 
our solar system is the instrumental 
cause of nearly all the physical ener- 
gies that are manifested on our earth, 
and yet the devout heart gives thanks 
to the supreme ruler for the good 
things that come to us through these 
instrumentalities. 

The wind that blows, from the gen- 
tle breeze, up to the desolating tor- 
nado, comes through the influence of 
the sun, combined with electric cur- 
rents. The water that is held in the 
form of ice and snow is liberated by 
sunshine, and winds its way through 
small streams to rivers and from riv- 
ers to oceans, from which it is car- 
ried back again by the action of the 
sun's rays and formed into rain clouds 
to return to water the earth. This 
process will continue while the sun 
continues to shine. We may follow 
the workings of this central power 
through other forms of motion. The 
fuel in the furnace changes the water 



66 MIND, MATTER 

in the boiler into steam. The power 
of the steam is transferred to. the driv- 
ing wheel, and the cars move with 
their freight and passengers over con- 
tinents. The coal that burns in the 
furnace had its origin in immense 
vegetable growths in prehistoric ages, 
and this was produced from sunshine. 

This is also true of all kind of fuel 
that grows on the earth, so that every- 
thing that runs by steam on land and 
water, and every spindle that whirls 
in every mill or factory, has the power 
of the sun behind it. The strength 
and physical power to work in man 
or animals may be traced to the same 
source. 

We do not fully understand the 
vitalizing force of sunshine. These 
rays of light have forced themselves 
upon our attention by demonstrations 
of their power on animal and vege- 
table life. All plants seek the sun, 
and perish if they cannot find it. It 
stands at the head of all institutions in 
the material world for the supply of 
human wants and a contribution to 
the happiness of all the dwellers on 
this earth. 



AND MOTION. 67 

HOW TO REMAIN VIGOROUS 
IN OLD AGE. 

My object is, not only to advance a 
theory on what may be accomplished, 
but to show what has been accom- 
plished in extreme old age by a care- 
ful attention to our mental and physi- 
cal energies. In the foregoing pages 
I have advanced some new theories 
to which I invite the attention of the 
learned men of our times. I ask no 
favors from critics on account of old 
age, for I could not have written this 
in my younger years. I have care- 
fully studied the subject of mental as 
well as physical gymnastics, and have 
found that both are important to keep 
up the vigor of the body and the mind. 

(See Appendix for explanations.) 

My memory is now better than 
when I was a young man. 

In reference to a lecture delivered 
in the First United Presbyterian 
Church, in Chicago, in the month of 
January, 1896, the Rev. W. T. Meloy, 
D. D., the pastor, in his paper, "Our 
Work," says: "Dr. Adam Miller's lec- 
ture was a very pleasant and profitable 
affair. He talked for an hour and a 



68 MIND, MATTER 

half, and so interested all that heard 
him that the time seemed but short. 
The Doctor is only eight-six, and has 
a memory that is marvelous. 

These things are only mentioned as 
an illustration of the truth of my the- 
ory, of the importance of a proper care 
for the preservation of life and health. 

The recuperative powers of our 
physical organization are constantly 
at work to repair injuries and to carry 
materials to the injured parts and to 
supply the wastes that are constantly 
going on. 

As there is an infinite mind that 
controls revolving bodies through in- 
finite space, by the operation of nat- 
ural laws, so this all-controlling mind 
has provided materials for the support 
of human life on this earth, and has 
left it to the care of an intelligent race 
to make a proper use of these mate- 
rials; but among all the nicely ar- 
ranged systems for doing important 
work, the human body in connection 
with the mind, have been the most 
abused and neglected, of all active 
forces in nature. 

Whisky and tobacco, and an exces- 
sive indulgence in unwholsome food 



AND MOTION. 69 

and drink, and irregular hours of sleep 
and rest, are making fearful havoc 
with millions of the human race. 

It does not require a knowledge of 
the technicalities of the medical pro- 
fession to take a proper care of the 
body and the mind. Careful observa- 
tion and experience are the best teach- 
ers along this line. Here is where the 
controlling mind over matter can be 
illustrated. 

Man's physical organization is a 
part of nature, and is under the opera- 
tion of natural laws, but these laws 
are often interfered with by the deci- 
sion of the human will. The human 
stomach has a limited capacity for di- 
gesting food necessary to supply the 
wants of the body. When this is over- 
loaded by excessive indulgence in eat- 
ing, and then inflamed by alcoholic 
liquors, the digestive process is inter- 
fered with, and the nervous system 
broken down by the excessive use of 
tobacco, the structure finally breaks 
down and the dweller in this temple is 
forced to leave because it is no longer 
fitted for habitation, and the MIND 
determined it should be so. 

Nature utters her voice of warning 



70 MIND, MATTER 

to the violators of her laws. She has 
also words of encouragement to those 
who observe these laws. If we live 
in harmony with nature's laws we pro- 
mote the health of the body and the 
mind. 



NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL 
LAWS. 

Natural laws govern the natural 
world, and spiritual laws govern the 
spiritual world. There is a marked 
line of distinction between these two 
governing powers. In the harmony 
of nature we see a law that governs 
unconscious and inert matter, which 
is absolutely free from any responsi- 
bility to the governing powers, and 
not subject to praise nor blame from 
the law-giver. 

In the spiritual kingdom there is a 
knowledge of the nature and demands 
of the law which addresses itself to 
our spiritual nature, and implies voli- 
tion, and consequently a responsi- 
bility to the law-giver. There is no 
similarity between v the operation of 
natural and spiritual law. They have 
nothing to do with each other. When 
we look at nature in her harmonious 






AND MOTION. 71 

movements; atoms blending with 
atoms, then separating and reuniting 
in different proportions and qualities 
to form the endless varieties in quali- 
ties and forms, such as we find in 
matter; the most rational conclusion 
we can arrive at is, that there must be 
a primodial intelligent cause for these 
movements of the different inert parts 
of matter. 

Whatever the molecular motion of 
the different forms of matter may be, 
in their different conditions of tem- 
perature, no material substance, great 
or small, has ever transferred itself, by 
its own inherent power, from one place 
to another. 

There may be long lines of succes- 
sive forces behind the final motion, 
but these have their origin in an ulti- 
mate and all controling power. 

Materialistic science seeks this 
power in an uncreated and eternal 
energy, and all motion in the correla- 
tion of forces, without allowing mind, 
intelligence, or volition above these 
forces. But the strange and contra- 
dictory part of this theory is the ad- 
mission that the energies on which 
materialistic science depends are grad- 



72 MIND, MATTER 

ually passing away, and it can find no 
power in the universe by which they 
can be restored to action. 

Professor Henry Drummond, in his 
"Natural Law in the Spiritual World/' 
says : " With the gradual aggregation 
of mass the energy of the universe has 
been slowly disappearing, and this loss 
of energy must go on until none re- 
mains. There is, therefore, a point 
in time when the energy of the uni- 
verse must come to an end." The 
theist — the believer in the superna- 
tural may inquire: What then? 
What will come after the final ending 
of Nature's energies? On this sub- 
ject Prof. Tyndall in his "Heat a Mode 
of Motion," p. 124, says: "To create 
or annihilate energy is as impossible 
as to create or annihilate matter; and 
all the phenomena of the material uni- 
verse consists in transformations of 
energy alone. The principle here 
enunciated is called the law of the 
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY." 
Here are two positive statements made 
by two distinguished writers, claim- 
ing to be guided by the teachings of 
science, making statements plainly 
contradicting each other. How are 



AND MOTION. 73 

we to understand these conflicting 
statements? They cannot both be 
right. They must be the result of 
guessing. One guessed one thing in 
the name of science and the oither 
guessed in another direction, and both 
claim progress in scientific discoveries, 
and with all these different and ever 
changing views they demand the 
teachings shall be made to conform to 
these ever changing views, which can- 
not harmonize with themselves. 



HOW THE MEMORY MAY BE 
IMPROVED. 

Without memory our lives would 
be a dreary waste. The past would 
be a blank. The present a fretful and 
perplexing hour. Without a recol- 
lection of the past we would find very 
little encouragement in looking into 
the future. With the storehouse of 
our memories well filled with past 
events, many pleasant scenes of our 
past lives are brought in review before 
us. Even our sufferings and disap- 
pointments, when recollected in con- 
nection with the relief that may have 
come to us, and our deliverance from 



74 MIND, MATTER 

the apparent accidents and dangers to 
which we found ourselves exposed, all 
have a tendency to encourage us for 
the future. A recollection that the 
same or similar help may come to us 
in the future that sustained us in the 
past will enable us to move forward 
in the struggles of life and trust in 
the same powers and forces for pro- 
tection that sustained us in the past. 
All persons are endowed with this fac- 
ulty, but some in a much higher de- 
gree than others. While jjthere are 
natural endowments, and some have 
much better memories than others, it 
is undeniably true that by neglecting 
to exercise and cultivate this faculty 
it becomes enfeebled, w T hile, on the 
other hand, by a proper course of 
training and a systematic exercise, 
the memory may be strengthened be- 
yond the highest conceptions of those 
who have not made suitable and sys- 
tematic efforts in this direction. The 
reason why many persons in advanced 
years complain of a feeble memory 
is an inattention to the common con- 
cerns of life, and a want of effort to 
treasure up the ordinary occurrences. 
The idea of many that because they 



AND MOTION. 75 

have lived a certain number of years 
and arrived at an age where the men- 
tal faculties generally become en- 
feebled, has caused many to feel pre- 
maturely old, and a general- loss of 
bodily and mental vigor follows a de- 
termination that it must be so, because 
it is the natural order of things. Many 
live and finally go down to their graves 
without being aware of the wonderful 
undeveloped powers they possessed, 
which, if they had been properly cul- 
tivated, would have contributed much 
to the support of the physical organ- 
ism There is such an intimate con- 
nection between the body and the 
mind that the lack of a proper treat- 
ment of the one will unfavorably affect 
the other. 

We have gymnastics for physical 
culture and find, from experience and 
observation, that much is gained by 
a proper exercise in muscular devel- 
opment. 

The memory is more susceptible to 
improvement by proper exercise and 
training, than the body. It is that 
which possesses the body, and is de- 
stined to survive its final dissolution 
and decay. The dweller in the house 



76 MIND, MATTER 

is of more importance than the house, 
so the mind of man, of which memory 
is a part, is of more importance than 
the body in which it dwells. 

We talk of a mind well stored with 
knowledge, but we must not forget 
that memory is the storekeeper, and 
not only holds the key to the store- 
house, but arranges all the shelves 
and drawers and the different compart- 
ments for storing away the treasure 
accumulated by mental efforts. The 
mind selects and brings in the treas- 
ures, sometimes secures them by 
hardest toil and perilous efforts. The 
memory takes the treasures and stores 
them away on different and appropri- 
ate shelves, or in different drawers, 
and so marks them and the place where 
they are deposited, that they can be 
looked at any time when they are 
wanted. 

What advantage would we have in 
the accumulation of wealth in silver 
and gold and diamonds and other pre- 
cious things that make men rich, if we 
brought them home and handed them 
over to our steward or servant for safe 
keeping, and he put them where they 
never could be found? Suppose a 



AND MOTION. 77 

man had millions on millions of treas- 
ures hidden in this way that he nor no 
one else could ever find; what advan- 
tage would they be to him? None. 
He might say I have lost them be- 
cause I have not provided a proper 
place to store them away. I had no 
systematic arrangement in my treas- 
ure house, and now they are forever 
beyond my reach. In this way, from 
a want of a properly arranged house 
to store away the treasures of the mind 
thousands of precious gems have been 
lost. We may deeply regret the loss, 
but this will not return to us the lost 
treasures. The only safe and proper 
way is to guard against these losses 
in the future. Why have safes with 
various compartments been invented, 
with bars and bolts and locks, but to 
protect our goods from the hands of 
the thief and the robber, and also with 
a view to have them at our command 
at a moment's notice for our use? 

The thief of time is watching us 
every hour to snatch away the accum- 
ulations for our mental toil. Much has 
been taken from us and laid in the 
grave of oblivion, but there are still 
vast outlying fields where we can 



78 MIND, MATTER 

gather more, and there are means pro- 
vided to keep our gathered treasures 
securely. 

But someone advanced in years 
may say, "I am too old to commence 
building a storehouse to treasure up 
my mental wares." You need not 
build a new house. The old one is 
good enough if you will only go to 
work and make some repairs; and 
when you begin this repairing process 
you will be surprised to find how 
easy the task will be. The sweeping 
out of a few dark corners of the old 
building will soon throw light over 
other parts. 

The opening of a few windows will 
let in the light and make everything 
cheerful about the old homestead 
where the higher nature has long 
dwelt in gloom and sadness because 
the house was so much out of repair. 

How sad it is to think that thou- 
sands of persons, when they arrive at 
the age of forty-five or fifty years, 
think that their time of improvement 
is past, and under this impression they 
neglect mental culture, and with this 
neglect the body soon becomes like 
a house uncared for. 



AND MOTION. 79 

We build the house we live in, that 
is, our inner and higher nature to such 
an extent controls organic matter so 
as to build up and nourish those parts 
most suited for mental activity, where 
no other abnormal or disturbing agen- 
cies interfere. This is especially true 
in reference to the growth and devel- 
opment of the brain, which is the seat 
of mental power. Proper training not 
only improves the mind but enlarges 
the dwelling place where the mind re- 
sides, acts and operates. 

The bright, expressive and speak- 
ing eye; the elevated forehead; the in- 
telligent features ; all indicate an intel- 
ligent working power or force super- 
intending the material organization. 
This working force in the intellectual 
realm is under the control of the hu- 
man will. If we determine that the 
mind shall lie dormant and the mem- 
ory shall become feeble and inactive 
from a want of proper exercise, the in- 
evitable results will follow. On the 
other hand, if we determine that the 
memory shall be retentive, and that 
the shelves in our memory's store- 
house shall keep our deposited treas- 
ures, we have only to keep these 



80 MIND, MATTER 

shelves and drawers in good order, 
and have our deposits so marked and 
labeled as to find them at any time 
we may wish to use them. If we can 
not immediately find the key to un- 
lock our repository and find the gems 
of thought, and all the beautiful and 
useful things of the past, we must tie 
a string to> the treasure and keep the 
string in view, and when we get be- 
wildered and confused we can follow 
up the string or wind it up into a ball, 
till it leads up to our repository, and 
to the very drawer or shelf where our 
treasures may be found. If we have 
many shelves in memory's storehouse, 
and a great variety of different things 
stowed away, and these of different 
qualities, and require many strings by 
which to trace our way to our hidden 
treasures, we can very easily attach 
a mark or place a label on the end of 
each string, each separate mark di- 
recting us to the object we wish to 
find. 

There are many plain and simple 
things that the mind may be placed 
on, and that the memory can retain, 
that may be well compared to a single 
thread, and by association of one thing 



AND MOTION. 81 

with another, either from a striking 
similarity or dissimilarity, the thread 
may be followed by winding it into a 
ball or unwinding it from a ball. 

As an illustration of following up 
the thread, we will commence with a 
white woolen thread. The wool leads 
up to the sheep. The sheep is an em- 
blem of innocence; here we come into 
a large field, innocence, playfulness, 
pastures, flocks, woolen garments, 
cold weather, blankets, carpets, and 
'ornamented parlors. Or, if we wish 
to run in another direction, the thread 
will lead us to mutton, to a good din- 
ner; to the dinner party; to the names 
of those present; to their conversa- 
tion; and many other things we may 
wish to bring in review before us. 

A silk thread will lead us to the silk- 
worm, the mulberry tree, the manu- 
facturing establishment, the silk dress, 
the beautiful lady that we saw wearing 
it, her sparkling eye, her wit, her dia- 
monds, her language, home, fortunes 
or misfortunes, all from the end of a 
small silk thread. 

A cotton thread will lead us to the 
cotton fields, the spinning and weav- 
ing, the factory girls employed in the 



82 MIND, MATTER 

mills, the great variety of cotton 
goods, the sails of ships, a trip across 
the ocean, the commerce of different 
and distant countries, the ties that bind 
nations in one common brotherhood. 

A linen thread will conduct us back 
to the field where flax grows, to the 
spinning and weaving of linen, to Irish 
linen, to the thousands of toilers who 
produce the beautiful fabric, to the 
weaver of the linen, to the rags of 
worn out garments, to the paper mill 
that manufactures the rags to paper, 
to the beautiful white letter paper on 
which our correspondence to loved 
ones may be written. 

A hemp string leads to the fields, 
the rope-walks where it is manufac- 
tured into! cords and ropes, to the 
rigging of a ship, hauling and direct- 
ing the sails, carrying the commerce 
of the world to. their destined ports. 

A red, or scarlet thread, will lead us 
to something fiery or intense, ardent, 
high tempered, wars and bloodshed, 
or such things as will incite or inflame 
the passions. 

A blue thread will lead one's mind 
up to the pale blue sky, in which the 
clouds are floating and behind which 



AND MOTION. 83 

the stars and planets appear to us to 
be pursuing their nightly march; we 
think of distance and magnitude, of 
time measured off by their revolu- 
tions, and in bewildering amazement 
we are led to the infinite Power that 
controls and directs all things from an 
infinite purpose. 

A white thread is the emblem of in- 
nocence and purity; it leads us to the 
lily of the valley, flourishing near by 
the Rose of Sharon. This will bring 
to the mind a train of beautiful and 
lovely things. How delightful in the 
stillness of the night to take hold of 
the beautiful white thread and begin 
to wind it up into a ball or follow ft 
back along the path we have traveled 
until we get back to the days of youth 
and childhood, and have the innocent 
amusements of our younger years 
pass in review before us. 

The tear of sorrow may start from 
the eye at the recollection of friends 
long since gone from us, but even this 
opening of the fountains of affection 
may bring relief in the hour of afflic- 
tion. 

A black thread may lead us into the 
dark, but darkness is not always dis- 



84 MIND, MATTER 

mal. It is necessary for us as well as 
light. Long winter evenings bring us 
many comforts that we could not have 
under the rays of the burning sun. 
It is true we might travel along the 
line of a dark thread into dismal and 
gloomy regions, but we should always 
prefer to; go along the line of the pleas- 
ant and the beautiful, to feed the mem- 
ory on that which will give us higher 
views of our lives and destinies. 

The questions may arise in the 
minds of some, "What will be the ad- 
vantage of all this?" "What can I do 
without an active memory to follow 
up these different threads?" We can 
easily see where the advantage of such 
a mental exercise is found. It is an 
effort to build up and strengthen the 
memory, or prepare the different 
shelves in this storehouse for reposi- 
tories of our mental wares. Instead 
of leaving the mind a vacant blank 
and tossing restless upon our beds in 
the stillness of the night, we may start 
the wheels of memory running back- 
ward over the past, and stop at the 
different way stations with such de- 
light and pleasure that we will soon 
be lulled to sleep, perchance to dream 



AND MOTION. 85 

some pleasant dreams, and awake with 
better opinions of life than when our 
minds were blank and the shelves of 
our memories' storehouses in a di- 
lapitated condition. 

Now we would advise anyone in 
lonely hours to take hold of the end of 
a string, one of those we have referred 
to; the white for instance, and start 
back in a contemplative mood and 
stop to linger awhile, around every 
point of innocence, beauty and purity. 
Then let it stretch out into the future. 
Follow it up and on until it reaches 
within the very gates of the celestial 
city, or, if you do. not wish to go quite 
so far just now, then take another 
thread and follow it along the line of 
which it is emblematical. Do not 
hasten too fast from one point to an- 
other. When you find some event 
in your past life, linger around it as 
long as pleasant memories continue to 
come up, in groups or single, and then 
pass on to other points; and in this 
way the scenes of the past will come 
up in succession as old associates that 
had appeared lost to you, and entirely 
faded from your memory. To those 
who have never made an effort to recol- 



8G MIND, MATTER 

lect the scenes of the past by such as- 
sociations it will be surprising to find 
the mind pictures like beautiful pano- 
ramas pass in review before them. 

The memory is like the blacksmith's 
arm, which has grown strong from us- 
ing it. There is no faculty of the hu- 
man mind so susceptible of improve- 
ment as the memory, and none so 
much neglected. 

Some persons are naturally endowed 
with good memories, while others are 
deficient, and must depend on culture 
for improvement. 

Before letters were invented for 
the purpose of recording the events of 
life and our historic narratives, the 
memory must have been much stronger 
than it is now. The transactions 
and constantly recurring events of life 
had to be carried in the memory in- 
stead of recorded in books. 

Many of the historical narratives 
now found in books of history, both 
sacred and profane, must have been 
preserved in the storehouse of mem- 
ory for ages before they were perma- 
nently recorded in books now found 
in our libraries. 

There are many marvelous instances 



AND MOTION. 



on record of extraordinary memories 
among the ancients. It would be out 
of place here to enter into a detailed 
account of the different prodigies of 
memory. Speeches were committed 
from once having been heard, lectures, 
poems, and the most difficult prob- 
lems the human mind can grapple 
with, have been retained in the mem- 
ory from having only once heard them 
repeated. But these are rare instances, 
and not a common inheritance of man- 
kind. The amount of memory we 
have is a natural endowment, or a 
working capital on which we can im- 
prove to a marvelous extent. With 
every advancement we make we in- 
crease our stock in trade, and add to 
our wealth which no thief can steal, 
and no wreck of earthly fortune can 
destroy. 



APPENDIX. 

The object of the preceding pages 
is, to illustrate some of the great vital 
forces of nature, and their relation to 
the Supreme Power, and their appli- 
cation to the needs of the human race. 
This has led me to advance some new 



APPENDIX. 



views on the subject of solar radiation 
and electricity. 

I will now add a few plain directions 
to those who* desire long life and good 
health in old age. 

If persons would be more careful 
in their habits of living, especially in 
eating and drinking and proper exer- 
cise, our physical organism would 
perform its functions with a more uni- 
form regularity; and as there is such 
a close relation between the mind 
and the body, our mental powers 
would also' be greatly increased. 

As soon as persons come to the 
conclusion that any disease brought 
on by exposure, or irregular habits of 
living, can soon be cured by the ad- 
vertised medicines, we may take it for 
granted that such persons are on the 
way of a speedy breaking down. Re- 
peated attacks brought on by needless 
exposure will soon prostrate the sys- 
tem. Relief may be obtained from 
remedies for a time, but by this process 
the years will be shortened, and much 
suffering will be the result. Here again 
the mind controls the body, and by a 
wrong direction, the body soon falls 
a victim to that controlling and direct- 
ing thing called the human will. 



APPENDIX. 89 

In addition to the matters above 
referred to, there are others things, 
equally important to good health, and 
long life. 

This is a moving world, although it 
cannot be considered a self-acting 
world. Human beings are both mov- 
ing and self-acting, by a decision of the 
will. Action within proper bounds 
promotes health, while the want of ac- 
tion causes disease. 

There is such an intimate relation 
between the nervous, muscular and 
vascular systems, and the cellular tis- 
sues, that a disturbance in any one of 
these affects the others. 

If each of these could be separated 
from the others, and stand before us, 
we would have a complete representa- 
tion of a human being in all its parts 
and forms. All are dependent upon 
the muscular structure for support 
and sustenance. Anything that has a 
tendency to produce a healthy condi- 
tion of the muscular system will pro- 
mote a normal and healthy action in 
the other departments of the human 
body. 

Being fully aware of these facts, I 
was induced to commence experi- 



90 APPENDIX. 



ments upon myself. Such was my suc- 
cess in gaining strength and firmness 
in my muscles, that I concluded to 
formulate a regular system of mus- 
cular flexion in accordance with ana- 
tomical and physiological laws. 

The result of this has been a perfect 
surprise to me. 



DIRECTIONS FOR MUSCULAR 
FLEXION. 

I am the first one, so far as I know, 
to introduce this system of muscular 
flexion for health and strength, with- 
out putting an undue strain upon 
them, as in the ordinary gymnastic 
exercises. 

The process is so plain and easy 
that anyone can engage in it without 
the loss of time or expensive appar- 
atus. 

The best position is lying on your 
back in bed or on a lounge. This is 
not a mere random jerking and slash- 
ing of the muscles, but a regular sys- 
tematic movement to gain strength, 
without the possibility of exhaustion. 
If you would have the full benefit of 
this new system of muscular flexion, 



APPENDIX. 91 



you must carefully follow the instruc- 
tions here laid down. 

First, stretch yourself out at full 
length and press your limbs firmly 
down on the bed and extend your toes 
out as far as possible. You will now 
find the muscles of your limbs above 
the knees quite rigid. Hold this posi- 
tion a few seconds, then draw up the 
feet as far as possible, still pressing 
the heels and limbs firmly on the bed. 
Now move the feet regularly out and 
back a short time; the muscles will 
then in turn be rigid and relaxed. 

From one to two minutes should be 
spent in flexing the muscles in each 
position. Next cross your limbs so 
that the outside of your left foot rests 
against the outside of your right foot, 
and continue the same movement as 
before, pushing out and drawing back 
the feet, and at the same time draw up 
and relax the muscles of the thigh and 
hips in quick succession. Frequently 
change this position from right to left, 
and left to right. 

By practice the muscles of the en- 
tire system can be put in motion by 
pushing down one side and drawing 
up the other in succession. 



92 APPENDIX. 



The muscles of the arms and should- 
ers are flexed by throwing them out 
and drawing them in. 

The muscles of the chest by deep 
respiration, thus expanding and con- 
tracting them alternately. 

When the soothing and quieting, 
as well as the invigorating effects are 
once realized, it becomes a pleasurable 
task as well as a means of gaining 
strength to the entire system. 

With persons debilitated by disease 
or old age, we commence with gentle 
and careful movements at first, and 
increase in activity gradually as the 
strength increases. 

No matter how nervous you may be 
when you go to bed for a night's rest, 
before you get through with the first 
round of flexion you will go to sleep 
and rest quietly. 



ADVANTAGES OF SYSTEMATIC 
MUSCULAR FLEXION. 

One of the first indications of old age 
is the weakening of muscular power. 
It becomes very tiresome for an aged 
person to walk a long distance. There 
is a feeling of pressure on the back, 



APPENDIX. 93 



and especially over the shoulders. 
This causes a drooping of the should- 
ers, and a bending down of the body, 
as if laboring under a heavy burden. 
This is soon followed by an enfeebled 
condition of the arms and lower limbs. 
The person who walked with an elastic 
step and took hold of things with a 
steady and strong arm, now walks with 
slow and heavy step, bowed down un- 
der the infirmity of advanced years. 

Some even feel symptoms of these 
changes soon after they have passed 
their fiftieth year. It is a sad reflec- 
tion to think that many will yield to 
this state of things in comparatively 
early life without a proper effort to 
rescue themselves from what they 
consider their inevitable doom. Ex- 
periments upon myself warrant me in 
saying that there is hope and help for 
those who imagine themselves pre- 
maturely breaking down. The dis- 
covery of this systematic process of 
muscular flexion has given me more 
strength than I had some years ago. 
There is a great difference between a 
proper exercise of the muscles for 
strength and health by systematic 
flexion, and the ordinary methods re- 



94 APPENDIX. 



sorted to with "dumb bells" or pulling, 
pushing or lifting with "EXERCISE" 
for public or "home gymnasiums." 

The strain on the muscles in all 
these exercises produces exhaustion 
of the muscular structure which has a 
depressing effect on the nerves, and 
there are many who have commenced 
these exercises with high expectations 
and finally abandoned them from an 
experience of the fact that the strength 
gained, in many cases, is not a suffi- 
cient compensation for the energy lost 
in these gymnastic "exercises." 

Our aim is to introduce the invalid 
to a new method of physical culture, 
and to show how those in the ordinary 
enjoyment of health may increase 
their strength and retain it to a ripe old 
age. 

Animal electricity is increased by 
proper muscular action. A writer in 
the American Cyclopaedia says, "It is 
established beyond doubt that a pro- 
duction of electricity is constantly go- 
ing on in all tissues of the living ani- 
mal economy. The amount of elec- 
tricity generated in the muscles must 
be exceedingly great." This is evi- 
dently increased by a proper course 
of muscular exercise. 



APPENDIX. 95 



It is a singular fact that on a cold 
day, in a dry atmosphere, I can evolve 
electricity enough from the end of my 
fingers of my right hand in a few 
seconds sufficiently strong to run my 
little toy wagon 10 inches long and 7 
inches wide, up grade over my desk, 
or to hold the largest apple you can 
bring to me, suspended in the air. Sir 
Isaac Newton saw an apple fall and 
got an idea about gravitation. I can 
show you an apple that will not fall, 
and also give you an idea of locomo- 
tion, and show you how this power 
may be increased in extreme old age. 
The knife I carry in my pocket has 
become a strong magnet. It must 
have received the magnetism from my 
body. The human form and especi- 
ally the expression of the human face 
is the most marvelous exhibition of 
organic life ever seen on this earth, 
and it is our duty to protect and keep 
it in a good condition as long as pos- 
sible. 

When the) advancing years draw 
their unwelcome lines across the face 
it is our duty to drive them away just 
as much as to keep the dust from our 
natural houses. I will tell how this 



96 APPENDIX. 



can be done. Go to your drug store 
and get 5 grains of corrosive sub- 
limate, 5 grains of muriate of ammonia 
and dissolve': these in a half ounce 
of pure alcohol. Put this in an 8-ounce 
bottle full of pure water and add 5 
grains of iodide of potassa. This must 
be used as follows: Moisten the ends 
of your fingers with this wash and 
strike with considerable force on the 
part of the face where the wrinkles 
appear. This will produce a healthy 
action on the skin and soon remove 
the wrinkles. Apply only a small 
quantity, and do not use it as a com- 
mon face wash. 

If unsightly warts disfigure your 
face and hands, get a |-ounce vial of 
nitro muriatic acid with a glass stopper 
and apply carefully to the center of the 
wart twice a day until it forms into a 
black scab, then remove it and the 
place will close up and leave no scar. 

In this way keep away deformities 
and keep cheerful and happy to an 
extreme old age. 



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